Repertoire: The BEST Rachmaninoff "The Bells" (Choral Symphony) 

Special thanks for this episode. I discovered The Bells when I was a teenager and loved it since then. The ending of the piece remains on the top three of my list of the most moments in music.

Your top pick for Rachmaninov's own favorite piece is Simon Rattle?! I had to check my calendar to see if it was April Fool's Day! BTW, I love your Poe recital.

The Ashkenazy one is the recording that revealed the work to me when I started collecting in the 90s - and it showed the possibilities, especially the opening. The Rattle I bought a few years ago because I thought "The Berlin Phil? The Bells? Doesn't happen all the time." And, yes it's superb and my go-to - brings out the details and it doesn't feel as smudgy as the Ashkenazy (even though, I still appreciate Ashkenazy for what he did for Rach's symphonic music, especially in Sydney).

The bells is my second favorite Rachmaninoff piece. And the Rattle version was the first i heard. And indeed also the best! (My favorite rachmaninoff piece is the all night virgil, it was also one of rachmaninoffs favorites. But i think im one of a few who rate it as his most beautiful)

I listen to the funeral bells movement on it's own regularly. If the sounds are flavors, that movement is dark chocolate and coffee, rich and smooth and bitter (or maybe bittersweet.) I love it.

Thanks for this, David. I've spent decades looking for an ideal 'The Bells' - essentially the Kondrashin (which I've owned from lp days) but in decent sound. Vintage Melodyia says it all about the Kondrashin, breathtaking performance in sonics that'll rip your ears off. Since then I've landed myself with two total duds, the recent Jansons and Pletnev. I'll look for the Rattle. Next is a Symphonic Dances that tallies with the one in my head.

What? Not even a mention of Robert Shaw’s recording? I remember the thrill of hearing the Atlanta Symphony chorus in that opening “command” as something amazing. And Telarc captured it. And a young Renee Fleming sang the wedding movement.

I just love that opening, of his fabulous work. I love this work, too.

I didn't even know that the Rattle existed until now but, from what I've already heard, it's fantastic. I've enjoyed Previn's "Bells" for decades, so it was nice to add a more recent recording to the "belfry" :)

The English horn solo beginning the last movement brings tears to my eyes, the sound of oblivion.....

After watching your video I have just ordered the Rattle version for the equivalent of @ five dollars. Like most people of our generation I got to know the Bells through the Previn recording. I couldn't agree with you more about a concert of the Bells and Belshazzar's Feast. It is a marvellous work, the consolatory string melody at the very end after the despair and horror of the last movement always chokes me up. Whatever one might think of the state of the classical music world in general, at least Rachmaninov is now taken seriously as a major composer, a far cry from Eric Blom's appalling dismissal of Rachmaninov in the 1954 Grove's Dictionary.

I imprinted on Previn's recording which I also had on LP years ago. Now I have a couple more to check out. Thanks.

Thanks for this recommendation for what to listen tonight 🙂

if you're not tempted by the Rattle/BPO performance, there is a Jansons/BRSO performance that is very well played and excellently recorded on the house label. I've not been impressed with the sound of many Rattle/BPO discs and Jansons is a great Rachmaninoff interpreter, so for some of you this may be a valid option. Haven't heard the Rattle yet (will check it out soon), but frankly am happy with what I've got.

Ashkenazy also has recorded a version with the Czech Philharmonic on (audiophile label) EXTON, release 2002. The samples on JPC sound terrific.

That, along with the Three Russian Songs, are amongst my favorites of Rachmaninoff's oeuvre.

Oh well, I guess we can't agree ALL the time....when I first heard the Rattle I was quite impressed. I was working on one of the keyboard parts for an upcoming performance and was digging deep into the score. After a while I stepped back from only using the Rattle for my score study, and found other versions ultimately revealed more of the color in Rachmaninoff's orchestration, which I find very generically realized in Rattle's version. Clarity (and some precision of ensemble) is strangely lacking as well. To me, there's a void where the "soul" and expressivity of the work should be. I prefer Kondrashin, Ormandy or Previn. I haven't heard a few others you mention, but will do so (Slatkin particularly). I'm not sure which Svetlanov you were talking about (the late live one is rather drab), but I like the 1979 Melodiya one very much, despite the compressed sonics. Especially the 4th mvt., which captures the longing better than any other version I've heard. Now that the performances are well behind me (I actually got to play it TWICE, once doing the piano part and then the celesta...what a treat!) I will revisit Rattle and see if being out of the thickets of musical preparation has changed my view of things. I hope your video gets folks to listen to the work.....what a masterwork it is! Thanks.

The sound of the chorus is SO extremely important in this repertoire, and there's no way any group is going to match the darkness, weight and "elemental" timbre of Kondrashin's chorus (mid 60's). Alas, all of that has changed, as our world becomes more globalized (not to mention...um...."kinder and gentler" in sound, especially the men), and individual cultures lose their own unique sound. But Kondrashin's recording is unbeatable in that regard..especially in Mvts 2 & 4. But I'm looking forward to hearing Rattle ("SIR" to us mortals), and appreciate your honesty and willingness to acknowledge your general aversion to him on the one hand, then rave about this performance on the other. Clearly, you're able to put aside your bias against the guy and judge the performance on its own merits...which is what we readers depend on. LR

I agree, to my great surprise, that Rattle's Bells are the best rendition of this masterpiece. Same with the Symphonic Dances, just stunning (along with Temirkanov's). I think it is one of three ever downloads which I paid for. So happy to be in line with our supreme recordings guru:) I heard the Bells only once live with the Ural Philharmonic. The performance was paired with Rach's Vespers...i wonder whether David can share his thoughts on the recordings of this masterpiece too. I find Polyansky's recording on Vespers unsurpassable, although he did not gain too much laudation from David for his symphonic conducting, which is fair. Still as choir conductor of the liturgic repertoire Polyansky is my favourite one.

Good to have this piece reviewed. I first heard it conducted by Sir John Pritchard in the Royal Festival Hall with the BBCSO as I recall. It was a wonderful discovery. Good to hear you recommend Rattle's version which means you must think it good, judging by your comments of his Mahler recordings. As ftumschk comments, Previn's also good. He was a major influence in bringing Rachmaninov's symphonies into prominence in the UK.

Wow! I haven’t listened to The Bells in decades. My “Special Service Collectors Series” LP (Ormandy/PO) coupled with Isle of the Dead has been sitting there, almost forgotten. It is indeed a wonderful work! Yes, Rattle shocked me. I like the coupling more than Isle too. So I’ll be checking it out for sure.

I saw it (Opus 35) performed live by the Philadelphia Orchestra and Temple University Choir I think (yes, the same Philadelphia Orchestra Rachmaninov recorded with) a few years ago at Verizon Hall. So they are still performing it albeit not very often. BTW, English version starts with "listen" (Fanny Copeland) but the Russian version (Konstantin Belmont) starts with Слышишь "Can you hear" which comes from the verb Слышать (To Hear).

I've always loved The Bells, and I've always loved the Kondrashin recording. But I've always hated the distorted sound that chops of the top of every big moment. I'm playing the Rattle version on a streaming service even as I'm writing this. And I'll buy a CD to put in my car. Thanks so much!

I once read that Rachmaninov was present at the first performance of Vaughan Williams' (choral) Sea symphony as pianist in his second concerto. Three years later he premiered his own choral symphony, also on an American text. The works sound quite different, of course, but it is perhaps not completely fanciful to find a few echoes of the RVW scherzo in The Bells.

Good to hear your review of Rachmaninov ' s Bells! I too think this Is his masterpiece, together with the Symphonic Dances, his last creation . What do you think about them? Best regards from Italy, and many compliments for your reviews!

I prefer the Ashkenazy/ Concertgebouw "digital bell thing".

You’ve hit the bull’s eye this time! My favorite Rachmaninov work in my favorite recording! Other than Szymanowski I can’t think of any composer that Rattle does so well. I also appreciate Anissimov, but his soloists pale next to Rattle’s. I recently listened to another performance on the August BBC Music cover disc with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Chorus /Tadaaki Otaka and Slavic soloists that is also exciting and very well sung and played, but I haven’t had a chance yet to compare it with Rattle. Will do so soon. Unfortunately, it comes with the worst Pictures at an Exhibition I’ve ever heard: Henry Wood’s totally disposable orchestration and conducted by Francois-Xavier Roth, no less! Now there’s a real dog!!

I could be confused, but did Mariss Jansons' Bavarian Radio Sym release on Berlin Klassik, which didn't make the cut here, receive your #1 rating in an earlier talk?

Would it be out of place to say that what you played reminded me of Mahler? Certainly not like any other Rachmaninov I know. I will have to dig out my Ashkenazy CD and learn more.

I have say my greatest disappointment in a version of The Bells was the Dutoit Philadelphia on Decca (actually that went for all his Rachmaninov). How do you balls up something when you have the Philadelphia on board?! I have had the Jarvi since it's earliest iteration, where it had as mentioned Vocalise as a coupling, together with interestingly Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Duo (it's not the famous orchestral work) and the same's Festival Coronation March (neither of which IMHO resonate in the memory much but are worth hearing).

What do you think of the Mariss Jansons performance? I have heard good things.

Mister Rattle???? It's Sir Simon!!!! (Knighthoods come cheap these days.)

Thank you for mentioning the Ashkenazy! I guess I just have to do better ;)

Oh, and I have a performance with Dutoit and the Philadelphia Orchestra. I don't like it.

“Ears don’t lie”. Another blurb for your T Shirt.